Hot News

5.17.05

By CAROL KINSLEY
Executive Director
Mid-Atlantic Soybean Assc.

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — Soy biodiesel made a big splash on May 9 at introduction ceremonies at Indian River Marina near Rehoboth Beach, Del. The fuel is now available to the public at the marina’s floating dock, thanks to a grant obtained by the Delaware Soybean Board from the United Soybean Board. “These funds come from the soybean checkoff,” explained Jeff Allen, president of the DSB. “These are farmers’ dollars being put to work.”
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner pumped the first tankful of biodiesel into a boat belonging to John Carey, a diesel mechanic in Leipsic, Del. The governor has been a proponent of biodiesel for several years. “Biodiesel makes a difference, and now boaters will be able to get it, too,” she said.
Minner recalled asking about one of the first vehicles to use biodiesel, “What does it do to the engine?” She then suggested, “Pull one down and let’s see what it looks like inside.” What they found was a clean engine, she said.
Biodiesel is cleaner burning, with fewer toxic emissions, and adds lubricity to the fuel.
Michael Shearer, son-in-law of former Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Boyd Wolff, was an early convert to the alternative fuel. He tried biodiesel in the charter fishing boat that he runs out of Indian River and liked it so much that he has been stopping en route to Delaware at Tri-Gas and Oil in Federalsburg, Md., to purchase 100 percent biodiesel so he can blend his own fuel. He and his friend Michael Gerhart, president of the Pennsylvania Soybean Board, helped in the effort to make biodiesel available at the marina. Maryland Soybean Board, which many years ago promoted biodiesel to boaters in the Chesapeake Bay, also contributed to the effort.
Indian River is the first marina in the Mid-Atlantic to offer a biodiesel fuel blend to private boaters as well as government and commercial fleets. The marina has been using B20 - a blend of 20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent petroleum diesel — in all of its diesel equipment for four years, including an enormous hydraulic travel lift used to move boats around. The marina is starting off with a B2 blend in the smaller of two diesel tanks, said Gary King, marina manager. “We hope within 24 months to sell nothing but B20,” he added.
Although usually a little more expensive, biodiesel is being sold at the same price as regular diesel at the marina. “We are absorbing the cost difference to show our commitment to biodiesel,” King explained. The marina, part of Delaware Seashore State Park, is owned by the state but is run financially as a business.
King also announced that this season oil-fired water heaters in the park will burn a 5 percent blend of biodiesel.
In another “coup” for soybean farmers in Delaware, the marina is now offering soy-based bioproducts in its Ship’s Store. Baskets of such products, including solvents, cleansers, degreasers, motor oil and hydraulic fluid, were presented to the governor and several heads of state agencies attending the ceremonies May 9, with a request that they be taken back to maintenance or garage staff to compare to similar petroleum-based products. In general, the biobased products are more environmentally friendly, more biodegradable and safer to use. Many of them were developed with the help of soybean checkoff funds.
Representatives of the United Soybean Board were on hand for the May 9 celebration and held a teleconference of their own to broadcast back to soybean farmers in the Midwest.
Joe Layton of Vienna, Md., was on hand to represent the American Soybean Association which won a victory in Congress early this year with a tax incentive for blenders of biodiesel fuel. It is hoped that savings will be passed along at the pump.